I Just Want To Travel The World

by BANIX

I had everything I wanted in my second life. A loving family and a team of wonderful pokemon. I did not ask to get involved with crime syndicates or get caught in government politics. I just want to travel the world. Reincarnated OC.

141. Chapter 141- Disaster of Hoenn

I woke up once again with a violent gasp.

"Vel. Vel, calm down, you are alright. C'mon, look at me. I'm here."

It took me a while to recognise that I was safe in Vance's strong arms and that I was weeping into his chest. He held me protectively, his hand gently stroking the back of my head to coax the emotions that were running high within me. I had relieved the experiences that the ghost wanted to show me and while I'm certain that it tried its best to dull the emotions that it felt in those experiences, it didn't manage to filter everything. I only felt a fraction of what it felt and it was sufficient to reduce me to an emotional mess, I couldn't imagine what it was like for the ghost when those events happened over five hundred years ago.

I saw what it saw from its point of view, like I was that pokemon in itself. I could still remember the intense grief and regret that it felt when its claws pierced through the body of a woman with hair as red as Nia's. I saw the look of sorrow of the man who charged through enemy bombardment to try and reach that woman when he saw what was about to happen to save her but he wasn't fast enough to delay the inevitable.

I knew who they were due to the ghost's memories. They were Amber Geist and Aoki Yasuhira, the two people that gave the ghost hope in the bleakest moments of its life.

The grief wrecked the ghost and it wrecked me as well. My mind was safe but I couldn't control the emotions that I was subjected to. I weeped just as the ghost had weeped five hundred years ago. I felt the regret that it felt.

That sorrow, that sadness, that hopelessness. It felt too real. I felt everything.

"I-I'm s-sorry. T-This is n-not the t-time to be c-crying," I apologised and tried my best to keep my emotions in check but it was easier said than done.

"Don't apologise. You came back and that is what mattered. We… We thought we lost you for a moment. You had suddenly stopped breathing for no reason," Steven informed me and I tried to look up but ultimately kept my head down. I'm sure that I looked like a wreck right now and I don't feel like showing anyone this ugly side of me.

"The ghost… It showed me everything. From how it came to be and how it was eventually stopped. It's an ally, it's forced to fight for Roland and it cannot defy his orders. Roland's power is a form of enslavement, he can enslave ghosts to do whatever he wants them to do, that's the crux of how his power worked," I quickly recited what I learnt when I was able to better formulate my words. "From the ghost's memories, I think what really made Roland immortal was that the enslavement had a secondary effect, it's the only explanation I could think of to justify how he achieved the impossible. The ghost mentioned that Roland's strength as the immortal warrior was derived from its power. I think Roland can obtain a fraction of the power of whichever ghost he enslaved."

"So in short, enslave and obtain the power of ghosts?" Sidney summarised what I revealed and I nodded. He couldn't have put it better.

"So that's why he was unable to be harmed by physical damage and why he simply couldn't die. Ghosts are virtually immortal unless fatally wounded by dark or ghost type moves," Phoebe immediately deduced. "So we simply have to treat him like a ghost type pokemon? Shower him with millions and bazillions of dark and ghost type attacks and hope that one of them will finally end him?"

"It's not going to be that easy. That ghost that he enslaved, it was invincible in every sense of the word until Roland and the ghost ran into the Uncrowned Hero and his lover, Amber Geist, on the battlefield. They were the ones who stopped them because they were their worst nemesis. Amber Geist was a master in the Geist's mystic arts of evil suppression and the ghost's memories portrayed Yasuhira as a very powerful Normal Specialist. One thing to note is that while the ghost is definitely powerful, it doesn't seem to have a very wide repertoire of moves. Most of its most powerful moves are ghost type moves, which was why Roland and the ghost had such a hard time against Yasuhira and especially when Amber was there to support him."

"That's a very important piece of intel and it also lined up with what we knew about that part of our region's history. Thanks, Vel," Steven nodded in acknowledgement.

"Steven, I think we will need to make adjustments to the manpower allocation immediately. Liza and I should swap our roles with Norman. After hearing what Vel told us, I think it's obvious that there's more value in having Norman here than in having us," Tate spoke up. "I know we were assigned here because the initial plan required the utility provided by our psychic abilities, but our abilities are too badly affected by the chaotic energy here. Liza and I couldn't even utilise half of our power. Our strengths would be put to better use outside where our abilities are less hindered and in the event that we failed to contain Roland within Mt Pyre and he escaped, we can make the most out of our abilities by immediately starting to track him down from the outside."

"My thoughts exactly. We will do just that after we head back up," Steven agreed before turning back to me. "Vel, anything else that we need to know?"

"There's a limit to Roland's ability. It was why he only ever had one pokemon. His power to enslave ghosts to his will is a powerful one, but there needs to be a balance between the quantity and quality of the ghost, or ghosts, that he chose to enslave and bind himself with. Roland's choice was the extreme end of the quality spectrum, the powerful ghost that is sealed in that coffin. He once tried to enslave another ghost on top of this one but he failed. What resulted from that was a backlash where his enslavement over the first ghost weakened to the point that it nearly managed to turn against Roland and kill him. Roland didn't dare to enslave another ghost after that incident because he knew that once he lost control of his very first ghost, it would turn unto him without hesitation. And…"

I struggled to reveal this specific information that I learnt from the ghost. I knew it was its desire, but it still hurt to say this because it does not deserve such a fate.

But I also knew that if there was another option, it wouldn't have made such a request from me either. Reality is simply that cruel. It's as the ghost had believed, mercy is nothing but a painful curse.

"If this current ghost is killed, once it dies, Roland's immortality would be broken. He will be mortal again and it will remain as such until he finds another ghost to enslave. The ghost wished for us to kill it in order to stop Roland. It's the request it asked of me before it sent me out of the dream."

I knew that I was not the only one who felt a bad taste lingering in our mouths after they learnt of the method to turn Roland mortal. The powerful ghost is a victim, yet the only way to save it is to kill it. This really sucks.

"... Then let us make it painless for the ghost," Steven was the one who eventually broke the silence and made the decision that nobody wanted to make on our behalf. "Hoenn… Hoenn cannot afford to have Roland Kray running loose. We have to contain and stop him here at Mt Pyre."

"Another thing," I spoke up, "the ghost wanted me to warn everyone of its power. It tends to cover itself with fog and dark shadows if it could and that was how it presented itself to me in our dream. I couldn't see its true form and all I saw was a dark swirling mess in the shape of a giant orb when I talked to it. It told me that it did that to protect me, because its body is afflicted with curses and marred with ancient spells and anyone who saw its true form would be inflicted with horrific visions. In short, we have to fight it without looking at it. We cannot rely on sight to determine its exact location or we would risk ourselves suffering from a painful hallucination."

"Inflict visions on its victims just by them looking at its true form? I had never heard of a ghost capable of doing that before," Phoebe fell deep into thought. "Anything else?"

"It also said that it has the power to steal abilities with its touch. I think that means that we cannot brawl with it in close quarters combat and I think we can assume that it's very skilled at fighting right in your face. We will have to keep our distance."

"What a troublesome ability. No wonder Roland was unstoppable until the Shozo Shogunate came along."

"That sounds very similar to the Mummy ability from the cofagrigus species," Phoebe spoke, "Cofagrigus can negate a pokemon's ability with Mummy simply by touching them, this pokemon can steal abilities by touching them. Wonder what would happen if a cofagrigus comes into contact with that ghost, total ability negation?"

"That's an interesting theory. We can check if anyone has a cofagrigus when we head back. I think this plan is worth a shot."

"I do," I piped up and raised my hand. "Um, they do not exactly belong to me, per say, they kind of just follow me around. You know what, guys, just come on out." I gestured at my shadow and a handful of cofagrigus poked their heads out curiously upon my summon. Some of them only achieved evolution recently too.

"Will they be enough?"

"I had already seen this a couple of times but I still have no idea how these wild ghosts hadn't eaten you up for breakfast yet. This doesn't make any sense," Phoebe pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation when I defied everything she thought to be impossible by bringing out wild cofagrigus from my shadow.

"We can figure that out after we dealt with Roland," Sidney retorted. "Alright, if there's nothing else let's head back up. Making adjustments to our plans will take time and we don't have too much of those. Let's not dally here for too long."

"Agreed," Steven replied. "Let's go."

---

Heading back up was much faster than heading down. The information that I acquired from the ghost was quickly shared with the main group above and adjustments to the plan were quickly implemented. ACE elites started to head down in batches to the cavern down below to start prepping the battleground to our advantage while the key players of this operation quickly gathered and discussed their battle plans. Norman had been designated as one of the strategic combatants in this operation and Tate and Liza had been reassigned to secure and watch over the perimeter of Mt Pyre on the outside. In exchange, Juan has been brought into the group that will be fighting right at the frontlines within Mt Pyre itself.

"I think what we need to ascertain is if the ghost is capable of having a physical body," Roxanne brought up her hypothesis after learning and dissecting the ghost's powers and abilities based on the intel I brought back. "As we all know, there are two types of bodies that most ghosts possess; those that possess intangible bodies like the gastly and misdreavus line, and those that have a physical form and usually remain in its tangible state until it goes into battle like those of the golurk line. If it's the latter, things would be simpler. We can do something similar to what the ghost did when it met Vel. I can have my pokemon cover its entire body with mud using Mud Slap so that nobody could see its true form."

"I think that's workable. I think it's very likely that its body type falls into the latter category if it is very skilled at close quarters combat like we all believed it should be. It couldn't brawl if it couldn't touch and it also needed to turn its body tangible in order to utilise its power to steal abilities."

"That means that we have to immobilise it so that it can't move, and if it can't move then it can't steal. Making my enemies immovable is my specialty so leave it to me, WAHAHAHA!" Wattson's unique laughter boomed and echoed within the area we were in. God, his voice is still as loud as I last saw him.

"Even if we are unable to stop that ghost from getting close and start stealing abilities, it's fine. Let it steal my slaking's ability. Truant is definitely not an ability it can get used to without years of training and experience," Norman proposed a backup plan. "And if it somehow could fight even with the Truant ability, we could still rely on Velda's team of cofagrigus, but since they are not as well trained because they are technically wild pokemon, we will have to protect them until they are able to get into physical contact with the enemy."

"So that's our Plan C to deal with its power to steal abilities. Man, how did Hero Aoki fight this guy alone with only one backup in those days? Was he really that powerful or had humanity deteriorated so badly over the course of five hundred years?" Sidney groaned with his hands clutching the sides of his head.

"First time in my life seeing Pillars freaking out in such a large operation. Never thought I'd live to see this," Vance whispered to me as we both silently observed the Pillars at work from where we were seated at the corner of this cavern that had been furnished into a temporary command centre for this operation, Operation Lost Spirit. I will be involved in this operation as a support member for the sole reason that I can innately sense the presences of all ghosts around me in a certain radius. Since we cannot rely on our line of sight to determine the ghost's position due to its ability to cast horrific visions simply by showing its true form, my ability will be needed in the event every attempt to obscure the ghost's true body fails. When things get to the point I will have to act as the eyes for everyone involved in Operation Lost Spirit.

Dad and Vance obviously weren't too pleased that I had to get involved. They already weren't agreeable, especially after Vance told me that I had suddenly stopped breathing for about a minute when I was slumbering in order to reach out to the ghost in a dream. I didn't dare to tell them that it was because the ghost had temporarily separated my soul from my body in order to talk to me in a place that even Roland cannot reach, I don't think they will be happy to learn that I had effectively "died" before I was returned to them.

My family's role would be to act as my bodyguards in this operation. The utility that I could provide simply for being able to sense the presence of ghosts no matter how they tried to hide from me is too great an advantage for the league to leave me unprotected. Under normal circumstances, I guessed that I probably would be assigned a Pillar whose role would be to protect me, but dad and Vance are not planning to leave anything to chance. They are both either close, or had already attained Pillar level strength as trainers, so they put their foot down, pushed their weights around as Veras, and that's how the entire family got involved in this operation to become my bodyguards.

Dad, Vance, Anna, Mika, Mila, and Lawrence; that's six Elite level trainers where dad and Vance are suspected Pillar level trainers and Anna… I think she is close or already one as well. I could never forget how her hitmonlee sent Kratos flying with a single kick and how her bibarel sent him flying again with a swing of its tiny paw. Only a Pillar level pokemon could possibly do that to Kratos.

Personally, I'm more interested in Lawrence's capabilities as a trainer. I had never seen him in action since I rarely saw him around. Vance chose him out of all possible candidates to be his personal aide and there had to be a reason for it.

"I think I should be freaking out if I see my region's Pillars freaking out," I corrected Vance while staying close to dad and hugging him for comfort. I had been in this position for quite a while since I hadn't truly walked out of the emotional turmoil that I had experienced from the ghost's memories. Dad had spotted my abnormalities when we returned. He didn't ask what happened, but gently pulled me to his embrace and comforted me that everything will be alright because he's here. I thought my tears had dried but the waterworks resumed after he said that.

I hadn't been a daddy's girl for a very long time but just for this very vulnerable moment in my life, I want to be a daddy's girl.

"You just have to be the glass half-empty kind of person, don't you?" Vance fondly pushed his index finger at my forehead and I stuck my tongue out defiantly at him. Vance then turned his head to talk to grandpa.

"Are you sure you want to tag along, doc? We will try our best to protect you but once things start we cannot guarantee your safety."

"Don't worry too much about me. My choice to tag along is entirely on my own volition and while I don't look like it, I am capable of protecting myself, you do not need to concern yourself with me once the battle begins. The study of ability holders is my life's work, so while this incident is regrettably a crisis for Hoenn, it is also a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to study a Category Four ability with my own eyes and ghost-incined abilities are one of the rarest in the world. Call it my obsession if you will. I am also confident that I can dissect Roland's ability quickly and provide my own form of assistance to this battle. I won't be a liability."

I gave grandpa a mental round of applause. That's a very convincing excuse that he came up with. I knew that the only reason he insisted on tagging along was because he's worried for us, but that is a secret that only I'm allowed to know.

Grandpa's blissey is also ridiculously overpowered with its mastery over Gravity, and then there's Slither Wing too. Who knows, grandpa might have a few more hidden unknown pokemon hiding somewhere that he never revealed to anyone, maybe from the Galar or Paldea region? I would love to see those.

"Master Vance, trust me, you would be the one who would need protection more than the doctor do," Anna politely intervened in grandpa's defence and it was then I was reminded once again that Anna and grandpa knew each other from way back. He was the one who recommended Anna to us when dad was looking for a female bodyguard for me. Anna is also one of his regular patients.

"Seriously?"

"You didn't see what gr– the doctor's blissy is capable of with Gravity. You wouldn't be asking this question otherwise," I found myself defending grandpa and hoped that nobody noticed my near slip-up. I could already see grandpa raising a questioning eyebrow at me from the edge of my vision and I pretended that I never spotted it.

Oops.

'He will be useful as a meat shield, at least,' Lin huffed through our telepathic connection using a channel that only I could hear, although I think she would have also purposefully let grandpa hear her thoughts on this issue given how she tends to hold a grudge over the topic of grandma's death.

'That, I agree,' Ren slowly nodded his head. He had never been further than ten metres away from me since we returned.

Watching our Pillars low-key freaking out aside, time passed and we eventually had to get into action. Operation Lost Spirit officially commenced and we made our way down into the large underground cavern where Roland was sealed. The elite ACE forces involved in this operation had already finished their preparations as far as I could see. Machineries whose purpose were unknown to me were placed strategically around the coffin.

Steven gave the signal to start once he verified that all hands were at their respective stations. Operators started operating the machines and upon a closer inspection, I realised that each machinery was linked up to at least one dark type pokemon who were feeding dark type energy to the machine with utmost concentration.

"Looks like a tool created for the purpose of containment. I saw similar things being used before when I was in ACE, pretty effective for capturing powerful psychic or ghost type pokemon that would be too difficult to capture using pokeballs for whatever reasons. In our line of work such devices are collectively referred to as Binds. Looks like the league had made a Bind device tailored specifically for Roland," Vance helpfully filled in the missing gaps of my knowledge as we watched the proceedings from the sidelines. From an outsider's point of view, it looked to me as if the machines were trying to encase the wooden coffin with another layer of metallic shell that made it seem like we were trying to place the original coffin into another coffin, a shell filled with dark type energy.

"So if we succeeded in wrapping the wooden coffin with this… new metal coffin? Things end here?" I clarified while the machines began assembling the pieces that would create the new "coffin" to house the original coffin.

"Seemed that way to me. Once Roland has been sealed in there, even if the seals of the wooden coffin lost their effects it would be close to impossible to break out of that contraption. See those dark types? These are very well-trained dark types, and I bet that darktycin technology is also being used in creating that new coffin."

"What kind of pokemon did you see being restrained by these contraptions before?"

"Some rogue Pillar level psychic that went berserk after the death of its trainer. We couldn't capture it and had to resort to using this to contain it after managing to restrain it. Our dedicated pokemon counsellor tried to counsel it and give it therapy but it didn't work out, it remained extremely violent in its grief so we had no choice but to put it down. It's a sad story."

Steven's metagross erected numerous psychic barriers around the perimeter that segregated us from the epicentre where Roland's coffin was being encased by the various machinery remotely operated by the operators. The area where we were at was mostly silent as everyone watched on anxiously with bated breath, with only the whirr of the machinery softly revving in the background.

The last piece was finally assembled and Roland's new coffin was welded shut. A collective sigh of relief could be heard being released from everyone present. The dark type energy coating the contraption was so thick that even I could feel the energy emitted from it.

"This means… that we are done?" I asked Vance in a whisper that only we could hear.

"I… think so?"

"This is Iron One. Iron One to Team Fire Alpha, get ready."

A team of ACE operatives were being let through the barriers that Steven's metagross put up. With the help of the robotic machinery the coffin was soon placed in a container for ease of transport and the container was closed shut under our very eyes.

"This is Fire One, target secured. Darktycin levels are normal, requesting–"

A sharp crack shattered the tense silence and everyone was suddenly on alert. Team Fire Alpha had immediately leapt away because the source of the unnatural sound came from the container itself. Pokemon were released immediately, the ground shook slightly from the sudden appearances of many pokemon being called out of their pokeballs.

"Sitrep," Steven immediately called out through the comms.

"Fire One reporting in, Darktycin levels are normal, currently checking the live video footage from the container's interior–"

Another loud crack could be heard painfully clearly from within the container itself.

"Sir, the Bind is breaking."

That one line dashed all of our hopes and I'm sure that I'm not the only one who felt like a heavy weight had dropped to the bottom of our stomachs.

"Pillars, standby. All hands, prepare for combat immediately, make sure the cams on your helmets are switched on at all times. We are going to initiate Plan B immediately. Iron One to Dragon One, are you hearing this?"

"This is Dragon One," Drake's voice could be heard through the comms. He is the overall commander in charge of the forces surrounding Mt Pyre from the outside and leading our second line of defence. "We hear you and will be ready to assist at any time. May the land and sea be with you."

"May the land and sea be with us. Iron One roger and out," Steven cut the line to the outside and I also made sure that the small camera attached to the helmet that I'm wearing was turned on. This helmet was given to me by the ACE forces. Through the cameras, the ACE forces stationed outside will be able to witness the battle here in real time. This way, it will allow them to know what they should expect if the worst were to happen where Roland escaped Mt Pyre and they have to immediately locate and stop him in his tracks.

A powerful electric field was immediately deployed with Wattson leading his team of electric types. Roxanne and her rock types wasted no time setting up traps with moves like Stealth Rock and Spikes. Juan and his water types sprayed liquids all over the container's vicinity and they looked very viscous, certainly a special product created just for Roland.

Crack

This time, visible cracks could be observed on the container itself. The dark types that were powering the darktycin technology continued to put in their best effort to fuel the Bind.

The rate at which the cracks grew didn't slow down at all

Crack

Crack

Crack crack crack

Our minds got increasingly on edge with every crack that we heard. Steven's metagross increased both the quantity and power behind the psychic barriers that it had already put up, layering them masterfully around the container.

Crack

The container exploded with one final explosive crack that sent shattered fragments of the container flying out and bouncing off from the psychic barriers metagross had placed. We immediately tried to locate Roland but all our eyes could see were the shattered fragments of the wooden coffin, the Bind, and the destroyed container.

"He's gone?!"

"Search for him!"

ACE operatives immediately fanned out to conduct their search. They had already combed and mapped out this cavern and the surrounding area before the start of this operation so they knew where to start looking. Lin and Ren were also on edge. Lin's fur was standing on ends with her crouched aggressively with a low growl, using her mystical powers to search for Roland. Ren's lone eye flitted from corner to corner on high alert as ghostly wisps began to emanate from his body in increasing quantities.

Everything happened in a split second. In the time where this development took place I had also managed to use my devoured ability to try and quickly pinpoint Roland's whereabouts. My head turned and my gaze was eventually affixed onto an unassuming dark corner. Dolly, who was beside me all along, immediately fired a pulse of Night Shade the moment she understood that I had located our target.

Dolly's target narrowly missed the group of ACE operatives who happened to be stationed there. I didn't have a faster way of warning everyone around me so this was the best we could do. Every second counts and Roland is too dangerous an individual to be allowed to disappear from our sights.

Thankfully the people around me understood what I was trying to convey. Wattson immediately directed his electric types to rain a barrage of electrical shocks at the location which Dolly had shot at. The Stealth Rocks that Roxanne's team had placed began to tremble and levitate, indicating that they had detected hostile presence and that somebody had triggered the trap. The rocks shot themselves at the same place Wattson's team had attacked and a volley of Water Pulse followed, courtesy of Juan.

A powerful force effortlessly blew the attacks away. It didn't feel like an attack, but more like someone had created a powerful gust of wind from the sheer kinetic force alone and that was sufficient in neutralising the attacks from the teams of pokemon commanded by three Gym Leaders. The shadows of the dark corner then began to lengthen and darkened unnaturally at a rapid rate, coating that section of the cavern with creeping darkness and the closest team of ACE operatives immediately beat their retreat while getting their pokemon to fire their attacks as well.

One ACE operative wasn't so lucky. His foot happened to step on the dark shadow beneath him and he fell into it as though the ground underneath him never existed. A horrifying scream followed and the operative's pokemon immediately charged into the darkness attempting to save their trainer before anyone could react and stop them. The sounds that followed indicated that they battled the unknown entity in the darkness for a few brief seconds before everything went unnaturally silent once more.

"Flash!"

Wattson's pokemon brightened the place with Flash but the light wasn't able to permeate through the unnatural darkness. I activated my night vision ability and I could see a faint silhouette within the darkness. Behind him stood a large figure with an irregular body shape. Two sections that looked like it split off from the main body were held in place by shadowy tendrils that made up its arms. I've never seen a pokemon with such a figure before.

Our attacks had hit the target, I could attest to that. It simply didn't have much of an effect as far as I could tell.

"Ah… Ah… Darn it… My throat…" An extremely scratchy and hoarse voice rasped from the darkness, Roland's throat had definitely been affected from long periods of misuse. Goosebumps could be felt crawling up my skin.

"How long has it been…? Yasuhira…"

More attacks were collectively fired without hesitation. This time, from everyone present.

Our attacks felt like it had hit a gaping hole. There was no response or reaction and nobody could tell if our attacks had missed or it had hit the intended target but displayed no effects.

"Foresight!"

Norman's kangaskhan instantly casted a powerful Foresight into the darkness and the darkness moved at the same time, spreading towards our direction like a flood and Sidney quickly commanded his dark types to dispel it. The shadows were dispersed upon contact with the dark type attacks fired at it, slowly retreating and coalescing until they revealed the figures that had been hiding under its cover.

A man with long messy dark brown hair finally showed himself. He didn't look like he had aged beyond his thirties. I'm not too sure if it's the influence of the ghost's opinion of him, but he really had the face of a despicable bastard. Two large slabs of rock covered in dense fog hovered behind his back and a shadowy tendril was attached to each of them that linked into the swirling shadow beneath Roland's feet. The other ends of each slab of rock have five other protruding tendrils that allow each slab to resemble hands, floating behind Roland as if they were his demonic wings.

The ghost was purposefully hiding itself. I don't know if Roland's control over it was not as absolute as we believed in our worst assumption and it did that on its own volition in order to assist us, or this was simply how the pair battled together all along. In any case, the fact that the ghost was hiding itself may actually be good for us, especially if it could really get anyone who viewed its true form to fall prey to terrifying visions.

"Ah, Ah… Ahhhhhh. There, my voice is finally back. Uh… My head hurts… Huh, no red hair? Where are all the Geists? Had they finally died?" Roland slowly looked around from left to right, undisturbed by the fact that he's naked and unclothed and I presumed his original clothes had already thoroughly rotted since five hundred years ago. Lin snarled loudly after hearing Roland's remarks but I quickly placed my hand in front of her face to hold her back. Now is not the time to fall prey to his taunts.

"Well well well, what a warm reception. Hey, how long has it been since the war? I figured at least two hundred years had passed, everyone was wearing such strange clothes each time I broke free. Hey you, how long has it been?"

Roland directed his question to one random operative not too far away from him. The shadowy claw lashed out at the operative at the same time, freely extending its reach at will. A Water Pulse blew the strange claw away from the operative and I recognised that to be Zades' work.

"Tch, how rude," Roland said with a predatory grin, clearly not seeing us as threats. "That's fine, we will be on talking terms soon enough."

Roland took a slight pause.

"Shadow Claw."

Roland finally launched his first real offensive. The large slab-like arm with tendrils for claws slammed down onto the ground in a blur. The sheer kinetic force of the attack alone whipped up a violent gale and the cavern shook like an earthquake had struck. I had never seen nor experienced a Shadow Claw as powerful as the one just used.

"He moved!" I quickly shouted through the din but everything was too chaotic and noisy such that I wasn't sure if I was being heard or not. My mind conveyed my intentions to Dolly instantaneously and she fired a volley of Shadow Balls coated with Will-O-Wisps at the direction where I sensed Roland had shifted to. Lin, who was beside me the entire time, quickly caught on and rained down a shower of mystical fireballs.

"Iron One to all! Protect Vera Three at all costs! She's our only reliable means of locating him! Vera Three, our eyes will always be on you so do not stop tracking him! Keep us updated on his location at all times!"

"I'm trying! He's fast!" I shouted back through the comms. Roland's position had somehow shifted to the opposite corner at the moment Dolly's attack was fired. He's like a swift and unseen wraith, moving from one place to the next without any discernible pattern for us to predict his next move.

Ren vanished and reappeared on top of where Roland currently was in the blink of an eye. His right arm was cocked back and a huge fist made of ghostly shadow manifested, towering over Roland as Ren swung his fist down with Shadow Punch. Another loud crash shook the cavern that kicked up a huge cloud of dust, only for the dust to be dispersed when Ren was brutally sent flying out from it.

"Ren!"

'I'm fine!' Ren grunted. 'We have to stop him here! He's too slippery, once he gets out it's all over!'

"Mean Look!" Phoebe's ghosts took charge as Sidney and his dark types began to tear into Roland with relentless grit. Roland dodged with nimbleness and strength that a regular human should never be capable of possessing and the huge claw-like appendage floating behind Roland extended itself to swipe down at Sidney.

"Push on! I'll cover you!"

Norman's shout allowed Sidney and his dark types to press on their seemingly suicidal manner of assault, entrusting their safety to the Petalburg Gym Leader. The Shadow Claw was effectively neutralised as Norman's cornerstone, his slaking, intercepted the attack with an unbothered grunt.

"Get 'im!"

Norman's slaking is one of the selected few pokemon who do not fear coming into contact with the ghost. The ghost told us that it has the power to steal abilities with its touch but obtaining a slaking's Truant ability would be detrimental in almost all circumstances. Norman's slaking released a vicious roar, the power building up in its body could be strongly felt as it unleashed its own Shadow Claw at Roland in return.

Bubbles of water that were previously invisible until now suddenly announced their presence. The bubbles exploded with a violent wave, stunning Roland long enough for slaking's Shadow Claw to drive its attack right at Roland himself. The attack wasn't totally successful as the claw-like appendages had put themselves in front of Roland to shield him. Norman's slaking didn't even scratch the slab-like arm structure as far as we could see. That level of defence was unbelievable.

"I think the ghost may have a secondary typing! It looked to be either rock or ground!" Roxanne's voice could be heard as more Stealth Rocks were being used to hinder and restrict Roland's movements. A localised sandstorm started to brew to suck Roland into the vortex but the claw simply dispersed it with a powerful swing, forcing Norman's slaking to skid backwards at the same time. Whatever that ghost may be, its physical strength was really off the charts.

Lances of rock shot up and pierced Roland's body. Roland did nothing but forcefully pull his body out of those spikes and we watched with morbid horror how his wounds closed up in a matter of seconds. Flashes of steel energy converged onto Roland and bolts of lightning followed, causing the cavern to tremor once more.

"It's part ground type!" Wattson bellowed as loud as he could to ensure that he's being heard. "My attacks had no effect on the ghost! Paralysis tactics won't work!"

Paralysis tactics are one of the conventional and reliable methods of restrain and capture in our line of work. Now, that option is not available to us and that's just one bad news after the other. I sensed Roland moving again and Dolly quickly helped me mark his location with another Will-O-Wisp, allowing our forces to trace him in real time.

The claw extended to lash out at me this time. A veritable sea of psychic barriers instantly appeared upon Mika's command as her pokemon put up an impressive display of defensive moves. Vance's metagross intercepted the claw with a Meteor Mash, no longer afraid of the ghost stealing its ability because the ability it should now have would be the Truant ability it stole from Norman's slaking.

No– Wait, why didn't the ghost acted like the Truant ability affected its behaviour at all? If it had indeed accidentally stolen slaking's Truant ability via contact it shouldn't be able to mount an attack on me so soon.

A loud screech could be heard and Vance's metagross was forcefully hurled back. Everyone seemed to have come to the conclusion I just did as well. There's no way to verify if the ghost had stolen the Truant ability or if it was simply able to fight effectively even with that ability.

Shadow Claw was used again and this time it took out an entire team of ACE operatives with a single sweep. I tried to ignore the glaring pool of blood quickly pooling at the crater where those operatives and their pokemon crashed into and focused all my attention on tracking Roland's whereabouts. I won't allow myself to be the weak link in this operation because Roland had proved himself to be a slippery individual. I cannot allow myself to be distracted.

Wallace and his milotic caught Roland in a rampaging vortex. Juan and Zades immediately got their water types to reinforce the attack as the master-student trio displayed their individual capabilities in perfect synchronisation. The large claws tried to force itself out of the dense water pressure through sheer strength alone and it eventually did, the mere force being released had even pushed the water types back the moment it tore through its restraints.

Sidney and Norman had immediately surrounded Roland with their pokemon to keep up the pressure. Powerful ghosts flitted in and out, cackling and howling with crazed glee to provide support under Phoebe's command. Powerful attacks were being continuously dished out and the two large claws were forced to defend Roland. It's great at defensive manoeuvres, often finding the best angle to block the worst blows for Roland using minimal amounts of movement. Looking at the battle I could understand why Roland was Hero Aoki's and Champion Shozo's worst enemy, he really is good at commanding and controlling this unknown ghost in battle.

And this ghost had only displayed one move in this entire battle, Shadow Claw.

Steven's metagross became a bastion of absolute defence for Sidney, Norman and Phoebe and their pokemon. Each and every time the ghost's Shadow Claw tried to land a blow on them an equally sturdy barrier from metagross would be there to protect them. Steven's presence allowed them to fight without worrying about their safety, because their Champion would be here to guard them from harm.

One of the ghost's claws dealt a powerful slam to the ground that destablised everyone's footing. Roland tried vanishing into the shadow again but his attempt was foiled when Wattson's magnezone hit him with a Signal Beam just at the right moment. A pillar of rock rose and crashed into Roland's jaw from beneath him, a gift to him from Roxanne and her probopass, and Juan's kingdra tried trapping him once more with Whirlpool.

The Whirlpool was ripped apart with another Shadow Claw. We were no longer surprised at how the ghost's mastery of Shadow Claw was able to get it out of almost anything by this point. Wallace's milotic fired an Ice Beam at Roland and this time, the ghost finally displayed another move, Protect.

"Disable!"

Phoebe's dusknoir immediately casted Disable to momentarily disable an effective defensive option for the ghost. A collective bombardment of Dark Pulse was immediately fired at Roland and this time a large shadowy blob with an irregular figure finally arose from the shadow to take the blow on his behalf. The ghost released a painful shriek, its body still covered with fog and unnatural swirling shadows that prevented us from seeing its true form. It twisted its head at unnatural angles to gaze at everyone with its lone purple eye.

Its gaze finally landed on me and Lin immediately put herself in between us with a low fiery growl. At this point I'm fairly certain that Roland's control over the ghost was not entirely absolute, because if that were the case he could have simply gotten the ghost to stop concealing its true form to turn this battle in their favour. The ghost probably could retain some level of autonomy of its own will, just not much. Doing what it could to obscure its true form was probably its limit.

"Shadow Claw."

The ghost raised both its claws and swiped them downwards with a violent screech. Barriers were immediately thrown up and Hulk had also instantly picked me up and jumped to a side. Anna and her pokemon spaced themselves out to surround me in a protective circle while Mika and Mila stayed behind to defuse the worst of the ghost's attack. The cavern shook again and it felt like the whole of Mt Pyre was trembling along with the ghost's attack. Even the volcarona at the Relic Castle didn't exude such terrifying presence and pressure.

Sidney was right to freak out. How on earth did the Uncrowned Hero from our history books fight this man with only one other partner and still managed to fight him to a standstill?

Dolly quickly fired another Will-O-Wisp at my behest when I sensed a shift in Roland's position. Steven was the first to catch on and had finally joined the battle in person, battling alongside his metagross and the other pokemon from his main team.

The ghost no longer hid within Roland's shadow, taking a more active role as it used its large size to effortlessly tank blows that would otherwise be fatal to most other pokemon and weaving in its own counterattack with Shadow Claw whenever the chance presented itself. No pokemon on our side was able to take on a blow from its Shadow Claw without being pushed back, every single time its claw hit a target they would definitely be sent skidding back or even outright flew away from the impact.

The exchange of blows only lasted for a very brief moment because the ghost was able to somehow push the entirety of Steven's team back with one unimaginably powerful blow. Wallace and Phoebe immediately came swooping in to keep up the pressure, not intending to give Roland even a second to catch his breath.

"Shadow Claw."

Something about this Shadow Claw felt different. I felt it instinctually even before the Shadow Claw was slammed into the ground beneath Roland. Dolly had immediately thrown up a huge barrier of Protect around me and my family upon sensing my thoughts and it was soon proven that we had not overreacted.

The entire cavern had collapsed and caved in with a brutal groan of the earth. The last thing I remembered was the signature crackle of Teleport when we were transported through space and the next thing I knew, we were standing somewhere outside at the foot of Mt Pyre. It was only me, dad, Vance, Mika, Mila, Lawrence, Anna, and also Lin and Ren. I couldn't spot anyone else.

"E-Everyone o-okay?" Mika gasped with her hands on her knees. Her alakazam must have been the one to teleport us out of danger right before we were trapped within the cavern in Mt Pyre. We could actually see that a section of Mt Pyre had collapsed from where we were and smoke was still sizzling out from that newly formed huge crater. That must be where we were earlier.

I quickly closed my eyes shut and directed all my focus into trying to track Roland's whereabouts. I do not have the mental capacity to worry about the people who might be trapped in the cave-in from earlier. They are the elites of the elites in Hoenn, I trust that they have the means to protect themselves.

I opened my eyes with a worried gasp.

"He's here."

My family instantly released all their pokemon just as I did. A pool of darkness on the ground swirled and expanded before a figure rose from it. Roland had made his reappearance and this time, he apparently even had the time to somehow acquire and wear a pair of pants. Not too sure which unlucky chap had his pants taken from him.

"You've been a rather annoying pest. How did you manage to keep such an accurate lock on my location when so many other better trainers couldn't?" Roland asked aloud as he stood atop the broad shoulders of the unknown ghost, its true form still obscured by fog and shadows. Roland then shook his head with an exaggerated loud sigh before turning away.

"Ah nevermind. Get lost, I'm in a good mood today so count yourselves lucky. Hmm, which direction leads to Lilycove again?"

A quick exchange of glances took place silently between us. Roland cannot be allowed to leave the vicinity of Mt Pyre; that was a consensus that was agreed upon before Operation Lost Spirit started. He is to be contained and stopped here because if the tales of what he did during the warring era was accurate, hell knows what kind of destruction and war crimes he could wrought upon Hoenn if we were to let him escape.

Roland's figure began to vanish and I instantly recognised the signs of Phantom Force being used. Dolly had moved even faster than I could verbalise my thoughts, vanishing at an even faster speed and with strength that even I didn't know she possessed, knocked Roland and his ghost back and interrupted their usage of Phantom Force.

"Leaf Blade!"

"Blaze Kick!"

Vance's sceptile and dad's Torch immediately followed up with a pincer attack onto the ghost. Anna's hitmonlee extended its limb and nailed Roland with a kick while using Foresight. Mila's arcanine showered Roland with hot flames while Mika put up a shield that barely withstood the ghost's Shadow Claw before breaking, just sufficient to defend us from harm.

"I'm going ahead!"

Lawrence shouted out and charged to the forefront, releasing his entire team and I finally understood that he is a Steel Specialist after seeing his full team for the first time. Aggron, metagross, aegislash, probopass, bisharp, klinklang, swampert; a very well crafted team with the right mix of both offence and defence that could allow them to excel in almost any situation when trained right.

The quiet man showed none of his usual reservedness in combat. His bisharp tore into the ghost with Night Slash and the ghost hissed angrily before hitting it back with Shadow Claw in return. Lawrence skidded to a stop behind his aggron, who released a deafening loud roar as a rainbow glow covered its body and it began to change form right before its very eyes.

"Ajax, Heavy Slam!"

Lawrence's mega aggron shook the land with its attack and for the first time since our encounter with Roland began, it finally looked like the ghost was starting to suffer from the accumulation of damage being dealt to it. Its Shadow Claw was met with mega aggron's Metal Claw and mega aggron was proving to be an unstoppable force because while the Shadow Claw was indeed powerful, it wasn't effective against the absurd levels of defence mega aggron displayed.

"Lawrence is unstoppable once his aggron gets going. Let's strike while the iron's hot," Vance took charge of the command. Moving the battlefield from indoors to outdoors has its perks, because without the fear of accidentally triggering a cave-in we were finally able to release a greater number of pokemon to battle and we could also unleash our more destructive moves without restraint.

"Curse!"

My target wasn't the ghost but rather, Roland himself. Roland screamed furiously in pain and I knew that I had garnered his hatred at how his bloodshot eyes were glaring at me. Roland and his ghost started to vanish again and I knew that I cannot let him escape. I'm the only one here with the means to interrupt and also execute Phantom Force effectively.

Dolly successfully banished Roland and his ghost out of the parallel world once again, shrieking in vengeful delight as Wacky casted a Mean Look before slinking away. Kratos fired a Dark Pulse that tore the ground beneath as Roland tried to outrun it, but eventually had to get the unknown ghost to defend against the blow with Protect. Phoebe's Disable must have already expired.

A bombardment of attacks were rained down from above by dad's Chewy, the hydreigon which I had a hand in helping dad raise showed none of its usual friendly disposition and became the menace that it's widely feared for in Unova. Fang struck out with Odour Sleuth as tropius fired Solar Beams repetitively without needing to recharge under the influence of Sunny Day that it just cast. Lawrence's mega aggron walked up and bashed into the ghost with Iron Head, sending it reeling back as it finally started to tire after being forced to battle for so long. Lin and Ren weren't idling either, they had been vengefully contributing to the battle as much as they could and were vehemently dishing out destructive levels of firepower without any regards to their own wellbeing.

Roland must be stopped here, no ifs or buts about that.

"Rest."

"Snatch!"

I quickly commanded Dolly to neutralise the ghost's attempt to heal all its wounds but we were too slow. The ghost had previously shown extreme mastery of one single move from the very start till now. Now, we learnt that Rest was another move that it had mastered and displayed incredible proficiency with. From falling asleep, to healing its wounds, and then waking up; the entire three stage process took no more than a single second. Dolly wasn't good enough with Snatch to be able to steal its effects in under one second.

We could actually start to feel the pressure and despair upon witnessing that. We had fought for so long to finally weaken it such that we saw a dim hope of victory, only for that to be dashed when the ghost could heal all wounds in a single second and be back in prime fighting shape. It's no wonder that Roland was dubbed as the Disaster of Hoenn, his presence in itself really is a disaster.

Vance had immediately invoked mega evolution upon understanding the true threat that Roland and his ghost posed. This ghost had proved itself to be incredibly sturdy and capable of taking the worst punishments its enemies could dish out. Furthermore, it had mastered an offensive move together with a recovery move and had mastered them to the extreme. It's literally the worst kind of enemy you could ever encounter.

Taunt never worked for some reason. The ghost could somehow shake its effects off and I surmised that it's because the difference in power between my pokemon and the ghost was too huge for the effects of Taunt to set in. Vance's mega sceptile raced around in a green blur and landed countless slashes with Blades supporting it from the rear, rapidly growing tendrils of grass with Grass Knot to ensnare our enemies and hinder their movements.

"Dragon Pulse!"

"Psyshock!"

"Air Slash!"

Reinforcements finally arrived. We had held on long enough for Drake, Winona, and Tate and Liza to arrive and stop Roland. Roland clicked his tongue irritatedly only to find himself on the receiving end of a torrent of hot flames.

Flannery.

"The ghost is a master at using Shadow Claw and Rest! Its Rest only took one second! Taunt and Snatch couldn't work for us! It will also keep trying to escape through Phantom Force and the only way to prevent that is to interrupt with Phantom Force!" Vance quickly relayed what we learnt and our reinforcements wasted no time to act. There was no time for further communications because Roland was starting to vanish once again, his wounds already almost healed from the burns that Flannery's pokemon inflicted on him.

Dolly interrupted Roland's escape with another crazed shriek and Roland looked utterly pissed for having his escape option successively interrupted. Thankfully, he wasn't able to get to me as I was being heavily protected and my family could finally extract themselves from this battle and let the Pillars take over. Brawly and Glacia had also finally arrived and immediately joined in the fray.

"I will tank!" Brawly shouted and as he and his team placed themselves at the forefront and started brawling with the ghost. As a Fighting Specialist, Roland would be Brawly's worst kind of nemesis but that didn't mean he couldn't contribute meaningfully to the battle. The ghost needed to be tangible for Shadow Claw to deal damage but his fighting types are the best at close quarters combat. They do not need to be able to hit the ghost, they simply need to be capable of hindering and defending everyone from the ghost's destructive attacks and that was the role that they played beautifully in the next few minutes. Every attack and every blow dealt by the ghost was perfectly blocked, countered or parried with grace and strength that only truly powerful fighting types could display.

Brawly's presence allowed everyone to fight with greater freedom and intensity. His hariyama was an unstoppable force for as long as he could come into contact with the ghost within an arm's length, the ghost could not reach further to harm anyone standing behind it. Brawly's presence was also very timely because Lawrence's aggron and Vance's sceptile had hit the maximum time limit of their mega evolution shortly after Brawly's arrival and hariyama could take over aggron's previous role in this battle. We have to stagger the usage of mega evolution between ourselves so that we will always have a gamechanger to be used at any time.

Glacia was the one who chose to utilise mega evolution right after Vance's and Lawrence's turn was over. A powerful mega glalie unleashed a merciless Blizzard that instantly turned our surroundings into an icy winterland. The ghost broke through the ice using brute force like it had always chosen to do when it's caught in a bind, but we could tell that our attacks were starting to take a toll on its stamina because it's been exerting considerably more effort just to continue battling.

"Don't stop! Don't let it use Rest!"

"Let us–"

"– take over!"

A powerful burst of psychic power slammed into the ghost who was forced to use its body to shield Roland from the impact. A mega gallade and mega gardevoir fought alongside each other in perfect sync to support glacia's mega glalie, their powers drastically increasing as the seconds passed thanks to their mastery over Calm Mind. Drake and Winona provided air support while Flannery and her fire types encircled the entire perimeter with blazing fire to trap Roland here, awaiting her time to step in once glacia's turn had ended just in case the ghost was indeed capable of outlasting them.

"Power Swap!"

Roland and his ghost finally revealed the next move which they mastered. Tate's mega gallade suddenly faltered while the ghost instantly received an exponential increase of power. The ghost lashed out with Shadow Claw again and Brawly's hariyama attempted to protect mega gallade, doing its best to negate the blow but was instead flung away from the force despite its heavy weight. However, hariyama had done enough. Mega gardevoir had teleported mega gallade to safety and repositioned themselves to continue battling. Mega glalie kept up the assault, not wanting to give the ghost a single opportunity to use Rest.

"Thirty seconds!" Glacia called out and we knew that time was ticking down. Flannery and her team finally ran in to join the battle, whipping out her mega stone as Brawly took out another pokeball at the same time.

"Mega Evolution!"

A mega camerupt and a mega medicham swapped in just as mega glalie reached the limit of its mega evolution. Mega medicham danced around the ghost with power and finesse, weaving in kicks and elemental punches and dodging attacks with Detect. Flannery's mega camerupt bathed the ghost with scorching flames, also implicating mega medicham with it but mega medicham was able to constantly heal itself with Recover to negate the friendly fire from mega camerupt.

"Eruption!"

Mega camerupt dealt one of the most critical blows onto the ghost and Roland screamed when molten lava had sprayed onto the left half of his body. I'm sure he could still heal up somehow thanks to his immortality but that definitely got to hurt.

"Almost there! Keep pushing!" Brawly roared and his mega medicham began to attack even more furiously as if fueled by its trainer's emotions. Whereas the area was a freezing white due to Glacia's mega glalie earlier, it had now turned into a fiery hell with Flannery's mega camerupt constantly bathing Roland and his ghosts with flames. Mega medicham was doing a great job in preventing Roland and his ghost from doing anything else but to defend, becoming a presence that they wanted to ignore, but could not ignore.

"Fire Punch!"

The effects of Sunny Day from Flannery's mega camerupt empowered the effects of mega medicham's Fire Punch, enough for us to hear a sharp crack when its fists connected with the ghost's body. The ghost immediately retaliated with a Shadow Claw but mega medicham avoided it again with another well timed Detect. Mega camerupt swapped in and unleashed a Flame Burst, burning the ghost with a pillar of fire that reduced everything around it in a certain radius to ash and soot.

"Drake! Winona!"

"On it!" Winona acknowledged upon Flannery's reminder as she swooped in with her team of flying types. Her altaria which I once battled a long time ago sang a determined battlesong as it began to mega evolve. Altaria's song was joined in with a vicious roar from Drake's salamence who was also undergoing the same process.

The two dragons descended upon Roland with righteous fury, decimating the landscape with sheer brutality the moment they swapped in.

"Tear it apart! Dragon Claw!"

Drake's mega salamence took the role of the main damage dealer with Winona's mega altaria supporting it. Drake's mega salamence displayed not just extreme speed in the air, but also unbelievable agility with the way it could stop and change directions in an instant. Any attack that might have seriously hurt mega salamence would be intercepted by mega altaria who would put itself in harm's way while using Cotton Guard. Mega altaria's Feather Dance also further lowered the ghost's offensive powers.

"Guard Swap!"

Mega salamence's claws felt like it had suddenly hit an indestructible wall of steel. The ghost extended its shadowy arms and struck mega altaria using the element of surprise and the Shadow Claw did a surprising amount of damage when mega altaria was previously able to comfortably take on its blows. Its target for Guard Swap must have been mega altaria.

Mega salamence attempted another Dragon Claw and it was met with the ghost's Shadow Claw in return. The force from the blow created a shockwave that rippled outwards and to our shock, the ghost had its eye closed the very moment it countered Dragon Claw with Shadow Claw.

"Shit–!"

"Draco Meteor!"

A point blank Draco Meteor was immediately unleashed when we realised that the ghost had somehow managed to weave in a usage of Rest right after using Shadow Claw. The ghost did not emerge unscathed, but it was still in a better fighting state overall when compared to before.

That's how insane its mastery over Rest is.

By now we had figured out that while this ghost could create wanton destruction with Shadow Claw, it was actually more of a defensive fighter. Shadow Claw, Protect, Power Swap, Guard Swap, Rest; it had only one real offensive move and every other move it had displayed thus far with a frightening level of proficiency were all either utility or defensive moves. Its chosen specialisation actually made sense considering its experiences, because its body had a very high level of defensive capabilities and it also possessed overwhelming physical power. Defensive and recovery options would be more valuable than offensive ones because it would allow the ghost to be able to continue battling for a longer period of time and outlast its opponents.

Roland and his ghost are a product of the warring era and many moves weren't yet discovered or invented back in those times. In an era where knowledge was scarce and zealously guarded, it was also not easy for trainers and their pokemon to learn and master a move and it was why the movepools of trained pokemon in that era was much more limited when compared to trained pokemon today. If Shadow Claw could annihilate almost any foe in one move, there's also really no point in trying to master another offensive move since only normal types are immune to its effects and not many trainers specialise in normal types back then. Trainers back then pursued depth over breadth when it came to mastery, preferring to be a master of one than to be a jack of all trades partly due to a lack of access to zealously guarded knowledge in times of constant war. For modern trainers like us, times are different now with the wide range of options that are readily available in the form of TMs and the prevalence of pokeballs, allowing us to quickly grow into a certain level of strength relatively quickly by first grasping breadth over depth.

"This is so annoying," Roland's heavy gasp for air could be heard as he slowly got up to his feet from where he was hiding behind the ghost that he had forced into submission. "I've changed my mind. I'm going to really kill all of you this time."

An instantaneous burst of power came forth from the ghost in a hair raising screech. We tensed upon feeling the ominous pressure that descended but my eyes widened at the recognition at how the ghost suddenly received a power boost. I've seen, fought, and even killed people who also wielded this same power before.

"Take him down now! He's using Resonance!"

The Pillars moved. The existence of Resonance had become common knowledge after the Plasma Crusade and the whole world now knows what a true ability holder could do with their abilities. Drake's mega salamence slammed into the ghost with an Outrage but to our horror, the ghost barely flinched. I don't think even Jasmine's steel types could take on an attack like that without budging.

Things had gotten really bad.

Our family could no longer stay idle either. The ghost had a very high base power to begin with. Together with the mastery it had over its moves, its strange powers, and Roland's ability to empower it even further with Resonance, the ghost had really become a force of nature under Roland's control and we have to do everything we can to stop him here.

Everyone tried invoking mega evolution again even if they had already done it once. There's no time to be discouraged from the possible side effects of overusing it because the stakes are really too high. We are the only ones left here to stop Roland. The people here are the remainder of the strongest military power that Hoenn can currently offer. If we lost and Roland escaped, there's no telling where he might go and what he might do and that would spell a true disaster for our region given his hatred for the Shozo Shogunate and by extension, Hoenn itself.

He will and can destroy Hoenn given time. We have no doubts about that possibility after experiencing his true power for ourselves.

"Boomburst!"

"Flash Cannon!"

Vance mega evolved his salamence this time while Lawrence mega evolved his metagross. Powerful blasts of energy pushed the ghost back and mega salamence's Aerilate ability allowed it more options to deal with a ghost type. Brawly and his medicham attempted another mega evolution again and succeeded. They immediately went to replicate what they had succeeded in doing before to force the ghost to be incapable of dealing with any other opponent but themselves.

"Take it!"

The ghost took on mega medicham's attack per Roland's command. It then howled and slammed a powerful Shadow Claw onto mega medicham. Mega medicham wasn't hurt too badly since it had defended itself, but we were horrified at how the ghost's power visibly increased even further right after that Shadow Claw.

"That's… Pure Power?"

"The ability it warned us about– It stole medicham's ability!"

The ghost hadn't displayed any signs of stealing abilities until now. We had simply assumed that it had stolen slaking's Truant ability instead and was somehow managing to fight even with Truant placing a burden on it, which was why we assumed it was safe to engage it in physical combat, but it's clear that we were wrong. The ghost simply never activated its power to steal abilities until this very moment under Roland's orders.

A powerful swing of the ghost's claws sent the aces of our Pillar's pokemon crashing backwards. More pokemon were released to join the battle but Roland had enough.

"Earthquake."

Screams and shouts arose from the terrifying artificially induced disaster that took place. The ground crack, the earth groaned, our footing beneath us collapsed and fissures split the ground apart. There was no way words alone could describe the kind of destruction that was heading our way. Lin howled in both determination and rage, her flames bloomed forth to encircle my family protectively while also creating a powerful psychic barrier to shield us from the incoming attack as much as she could. Ren released a shriek and countless powerful ghosts that were obviously from the same horde that Ren was the leader of appeared at his command, using their power to demolish the rain of debris falling onto us as best as they could.

Yet, all their efforts were rendered futile when another Earthquake struck in quick succession, this time far more brutal and violent and all our best defences finally shattered. We were all forcefully scattered and bodies were flying together with the debris that was thrown about from the force of that destructive Earthquake. Only Winona and Drake were relatively unaffected as they were flying above in the sky with their pokemon's help but it didn't change the fact that we were nearly wiped out in entirety with Earthquake.

"Dad! Vance!"

My father and brother were also among the casualties. I tried running up to them among the wreckage but too many large boulders were in my way and the shattered ground made it difficult for me to traverse the terrain. Lawrence and his team were taken out too, he's lying motionlessly on the ground not too far from Vance. Torch, the blaziken who could defeat dragons with a kick, lay defeated and unmoving beside dad. It's obvious that he had tried to protect dad using the last of his strength and he was probably why dad's still alive and breathing. Even Lin and Ren had been defeated, having tried to use their powers to protect us to the best of their abilities and a very large reason why we were still alive was because of their selfless assistance.

"Don't!" Mika pulled me back and physically carried me away. She and her psychic types were why we managed to escape relatively unscathed because they had teleported us away right before the Earthquake could reach us. Now, it's only me, Mika, Mila, and Anna left. Drake and Winona were doing their best to hold out and stop Roland but I don't think they would be able to last for much longer. At least one pokemon would be taken out with every swipe of Shadow Claw that found its target. It's terrifying to see how our region's best trainers were so easily taken apart as if they were rookies who just embarked on their journey.

A violent gust of wind exploded and we could only watch as both Winona and Drake fell in battle too. I hoped with all my heart that they were still alive and I really wanted to go and help even if I know that this was a battle that's way out of my league. Anna held me back, her lips pressed into a grim line, and never allowed me to escape out of her iron grip no matter how I struggled.

"We cannot win this. Run, I think Master Griff and Master Vance would want you to escape too if they were here with us."

"But–"

"Mika!" Anna ignored my struggle to get to my father and brother. Even my pokemon decided not to listen to my pleas for help because they valued my safety over everyone else. Mika's alakazam quickly initiated another Teleport, its eyes glowing in a psychic hue but my senses picked up on Roland's presence right at that moment.

"From your left!"

My warning came too late. Alakazam was taken out from an ambush and the huge horrifying claw slowly emerged from a growing shadow on the ground carrying Roland with it. Roland stood before us again, his body void of any clothing since it had all melted off when he was hit by mega camerupt's Eruption, but that was a negligible issue compared to the fear and pressure he gave us just by standing there.

"You've been able to track us no matter how we hide. Interesting, very interesting. Come, come with me. You have an affinity with ghosts too, don't you? I can sense it, how similar the nature of our abilities are, the ability to bond with ghosts. Don't you think we would make quite the perfect pair?" Roland licked his lips with undisguised lust that sent shivers of disgust down my skin.

"RUN!"

Mila interrupted Roland with a shout, commanding her pokemon to hit him with all they got. Her team is a team that works best under harsh sunlight as could be observed from its composition: arcanine, blaziken, camerupt, sawsbuck, tangrowth, heliolisk, darmanitan; their combined attacks were enough to render most defences broken but it did little to the ghost who just annihilated our region's Pillars.

Anna had immediately slung me across her shoulder and made a break for it the moment Mila decided to stay behind to ensure our escape. No matter how I cried and begged to not leave Mila behind nobody listened. Even Mika, who had tears streaming down her cheeks, chose to clench her teeth and opted to leave her older sister behind to ensure that I escaped.

This wasn't how things are supposed to be. Dad, Vance, Mila… I… I don't want to leave them here where death is a very real possibility and their lives are being subjected to Roland's mercy.

A bloodcurdling scream made our hearts wrench when we heard it. That scream belonged to Mila and we had no idea what happened for Mila to release such a scream. It sounded like she was in pain and I screamed helplessly in anguish when I remembered that she suffered because of me.

I am responsible for everything that happened to her, and it killed something in me every single time that I was reminded of it.

The shadows around us rose unnaturally and a huge claw lashed out in my direction. Anna's hitmonlee kicked it aside and Mika's team immediately put themselves at the forefront upon their trainer's orders.

"Take her and run! Go!"

Mika's team is a team that specialises in defence. Chimecho, alakazam, slowbro, meganium, altaria, alolan ninetales, sceptile, darmanitan; each of them were proficient in both conventional and non-conventional methods of defensive battling but even their best defences were torn apart like paper in front of Roland and his ghost. We saw how easily they were taken down within seconds and how Mika was thrown into a nearby tree with a painful crash before crumpling onto the ground in a motionless heap. She never got back up.

Anna stopped running and instead, quickly put me down onto the ground and placed me behind her as she finally released her entire team out for battle. We understood that we could not escape Roland after seeing how easily he had taken out Mila and Mika and so, our only option would be to try and put up a fight and hope that things work out somehow.

"Not normal types again. What are some of these pokemon anyway? Never saw them before," Roland clicked his tongue in annoyance as he stood on the shoulder of the ghost. "Never mind, Earthquake!"

"Protect!"

The rippling shockwave that rippled out from the ghost was stopped by the huge wall of Protect that Anna and her pokemon had thrown up, but it was only temporary. We watched in shock as the shield of Protect cracked after several seconds and a follow up swing of the ghost's claws shattered the supposedly absolute defence, taking out several of Anna's pokemon from the surprise. Kratos fired a Dark Pulse that was swatted aside by the ghost with a swing of its claw, unbothered by its effects even with the type disadvantage present.

Roland and the ghost vanished and Dolly immediately tried kicking them out of the parallel world through Phantom Force. We were still too slow, because Roland and his ghost had already managed to ambush several other of Anna's pokemon and now all she had left was her hitmonlee. Her hitmonlee's powerful kicks did nothing to make the ghost budge even with Foresight active.

The ghost's claw lashed out again in a grasping motion in my direction. Anna pulled me aside and my pokemon retaliated with vengeance. It was useless and I truly understood the definition of a hopeless situation. My pokemon were all taken out in a single hit with one Shadow Claw and I quickly called for their return back to their pokeballs. Thankfully, almost each and every pokeball responded and could recall them, indicating that they were still alive.

The only pokeballs that didn't react were Dolly's and Wacky's, and I had to pray and wish that it's because they had managed to hide themselves elsewhere rather than entertain the possibility that they might have been killed by that Shadow Claw. I don't want to dwell on that possibility, I cannot imagine a future without them if they truly died.

A choked cry of pain came from Anna when Roland mysteriously appeared before her, his hand grabbing tightly onto her throat. Anna pulled out the hair clip clipped into her hair which unfolded into a small knife in the blink of an eye. Her legs wrapped around Roland's outstretched arm and she twisted her body, forcing Roland to go along with her momentum and fall with her. She raised the knife in her hand, her eyes projecting a crazed and psychopathic fervour that's so uncharacteristic of her sweet personality, and she vengefully stabbed Roland's arm repeatedly that sent blood spraying everywhere.

Roland released her with a cry of pain, shouting a string of expletives as he did so and Anna vanished in a blur, her knife suddenly stabbed into his neck with a violent shove that had him gurgle in his own blood. The ghost raised its claws but hitmonlee intervened with a desperately powerful kick.

Roland managed to kick Anna aside who rolled on the ground before getting up on her feet. For the first time in my life I saw how someone could display such psychotic bloodlust that made it feel tangible, and it was from Anna of all people.

Anna lunged at Roland with a shout, one that's full of anticipation and excitement like she did not care what would happen to her should she fail. Roland's stab wounds had already closed and he also charged ahead with an equally excited grin. Both trainers exchanged blows, Roland's fists against Anna's knife, but Roland was virtually undefeatable with this immortality. Anna could never win.

Anna finally fell and so did her hitmonlee. Roland stepped past her to get to me but was obstructed when he felt something holding onto his ankle. He looked down, spotting Anna pushing her bruised and battered body with her hand holding onto his ankle with a tight grip. A scoff escaped his lips before he raised his other foot and crushed down upon her wrist with his heel.

I screamed at the brutality of it, screaming for Roland to stop hurting the people close to me who I held dear. Anna didn't even flinch nor did it even seem like she registered the pain, she didn't even make a sound. Roland eventually freed himself and kicked her aside, the unnatural force behind his kick sent Anna flying into the air for a brief moment before she crashed down into the ground. She had to have broken a few ribs and I hoped none of them punctured any important organs within her.

"Finally, we get to talk," Roland dramatically heaved a breath of fresh air and with every step he took closer I found myself taking another step backwards. My shadows rose as the wild ghosts within appeared in my defence, but I could tell that even they were trembling in fear at Roland's presence.

"That's impressive. How did you manage to get so many ghosts under your control? You have to be like me, don't you? Right? Right?" Roland questioned with curious glee. "It's okay, we have all the time in the world to get to know each other better. You'll get to love me, I'm sure of it, I'm a very lovable person… hehehehe…"

No words could convey my disgust for the man. I didn't even know what I should say in response to the insinuation behind his words. Roland gave a hand gesture to his ghost and the ghost slowly reached out to grab me with its giant claws.

A burst of light came out from one of the pokeballs on my belt, snatching me away at a speed that caused a gentle breeze to blow past my skin. A badly injured Blades sped away from the scene with me in his arms, wheezing for air with every leap he made as he pushed his aged body to its limit just to take me away from Roland.

"D-Don't. Blades, don't! At this rate you'll–"

Blades ignored me and continued sprinting. The shadows around us twisted and dark tendrils lashed out at us. Blades deftly avoided them with Detect and the grass around us bloomed and lengthened, accurately intercepting Roland and his ghost when they made their appearance and tangled them long enough for us to continue our escape.

Blades finally stumbled when a powerful earthquake shook the area. Trees fell and Blades used his body to cushion our fall such that I wouldn't be injured. The ghost reappeared before us in a blink and swiped its claw down at us. Blades threw me aside and a painful scream came from his throat when the ghost's attack broke his leg, causing it to bend at an unnatural angle.

"Return!"

I hit the recall button before the ghost could land another attack. Blades is too old to be taking damage like that and even after his forced recall I was still holding onto his pokeball with trembling hands with my knees on the ground. If I was slower, if the ghost was quicker, Blades might have…

"Done running? It's fun playing games, but it gets boring real quickly," Roland emerged from the foliage, even having the time to find a new pair of pants to put on somewhere in between while I was forced to run for my life. I looked behind me, realising that Blades had brought me to the south of Mt Pyre where it's connected to the lake that leads outwards to the sea on the east of Hoenn.

Roland walked up, forcefully pulling me up to my feet as he grabbed onto my arm. He took off my helmet in a rough manner that made me hiss in pain and I saw how he licked his lips in anticipation when he finally saw for himself how I looked like. He wordlessly pulled him along with me. I tried to struggle to no avail and the ghosts within me tried to come to my protection.

"NO!" I screamed and the ghosts paused at my plea. Only one fate awaits them if they choose to fight for me. That fate is death.

I don't want anyone to be hurt because of me any longer. I don't want anyone to die for me any longer. I couldn't live with myself if people lost their lives for me and there's nobody who could stop Roland any longer.

Hoenn had lost to a single man. I couldn't hurt a single hair on him either no matter how hard I tried. Better men had tried and failed.

"GET BACK IN! DON'T COME OUT! GET BACK IN! GET BACK IN!" I screamed and a gush of power burst out from me. Somehow or another, the ghosts were forcefully banished back into my own shadow.

"I like dealing with smart people," Roland smirked as he pulled me along. "It's been so long since I had a taste of women too, you'll do just fine."

My body shivered in disgust and fear at what he had in mind for me but nothing could alleviate the despair that set in. I couldn't hurt him no matter what I did, and anyone who tried to do so for my sake would be killed and I don't want that to happen too. Mila, Mika, Anna, our pokemon; too many had been injured because they tried to protect me and I don't even know if some of them are still alive.

It's… It's hopeless. This man is really like a disaster, you could do nothing to stop him.

"Speaking of which, do you know which direction leads to Lilycove? I need to get myself some new fancy clothes, couldn't possibly be stealing pants all the time, could I? Hey, answer me." My mouth remained firmly shut and I glared at him hatefully despite how badly I was shaking in fear. That riled him up as his face contorted into a snarl before he raised his hand. A painful slap forced my head to swing to the side from the force of the blow and I fell onto the ground with my vision spinning with how hard he had slapped me.

"You damn bitch–"

I closed my eyes and raised my arms protectively, fully expecting myself to be in a world of pain. I heard the sound of air being displaced and the dull sound of something crashing into something else. I opened my eyes and to my surprise, Roland was somehow hit by an unseen force that flattened him against a nearby tree.

"What the f– you guys are like pests. You guys never seem to end, don't you?!"

My bewilderment was cut short when I was enveloped in a cool and familiar sensation of water. A reassuring hand gently held me close and I could feel the pain on my cheek quickly fading away at his touch when he tenderly cupped the side of my face with his palm.

"Sorry I'm late. Tunnelling out of there took a while," Zades whispered with an apologetic look on his face and at the moment, all the stress, all the grief, the relief, everything; they came flooding out despite my best effort to hold the tears in. My body was wrecked with uncontrollable shivers as I sobbed into his chest and he held me close. I could feel his grip over me tightening slightly before he forced himself to keep calm.

"Don't worry, we will make him pay," Zades promised. "If even I could make it out everyone else inside Mt Pyre should still be alive, they probably just needed a little more time to tunnel out. Jason's definitely still kicking, that guy's tougher than a shuckle. We just have to keep him here until they make it out and take over."

"H-How are you going to stop him? He's… He's…" I shivered at the memory of Roland taking us apart one after the other.

"He's not the only ability holder around and thanks to you leading him here, I can now fight at my own domain. Admittedly, I could not fight with even half my power back there but the sea had always been where I work best," Zades said confidently as Roland screamed death threats while trying to locate us. We were hidden in one of Zades' invisible bubbles which hid us from view. I'm also certain that the effects of Aqua Ring were also in effect seeing how my wounds had healed so quickly.

"Rise."

Zades raised his hand and the deafening sound of the ocean answered his call with a primordial bellow. The skies darkened and I looked back only to see a towering wall of water that looked like a scene straight out from an apocalypse movie rising behind us. The bubble that we were in floated higher and higher as Zades held me close with one hand around my waist and I also hugged him tightly due to my instinctive fear of heights; it really looked like I might just drop at any second with seemingly nothing beneath my feet and I don't feel secure if I'm not holding onto anything.

My mood felt vindictively better for one second when I saw the gobsmacked expression on Roland's face after seeing how a tsunami was heading his way. He started to run but the water that Zades controlled was faster.

"Whirlpool!"

The torrential rage of the sea roared with fury as the tsunami wave sucked him into a violent vortex. The vortex then morphed and a huge sphere of water that trapped us all inside a watery prison together as Roland and his ghost struggled to breathe or even move under the water pressure.

"He's immortal, but I'm curious if even immortals have to breathe to survive. Let's find out, shall we?" Zades said with a devilish grin. The water around us had parted to encase us in a small sphere, allowing us to breathe and talk normally much like how Rena's psychic sphere allowed us to fight underwater during our lessons. This must be another application of Zades' bubble techniques.

Zades' water types slowly showed themselves around us, each of them eager to battle in a domain where they work best. Zades is someone you would curse and hate if you were his opponent or if you were taking lessons from him, but he's also a very reassuring presence to have if he is your ally.

In my mind, there had never been any doubts as to why he was Juan's preferred candidate to take over his mantle as Sootopolis Gym Leader.

Power began to build up within Zades and I could see that he's starting to activate Resonance. Zades is not planning to show Roland any mercy. None at all.

"Don't get distracted. I will keep him here in this water prison for as long as I can but I'm also relying on you to keep him in our sights. If he displays any signs of trying to escape with Phantom Force, let me know immediately. I can do something about it but I need a heads up in advance for it to be effective."

"Got it."

Zades' water types charged ahead the moment Zades' free hand cut down in a silent gesture. His other hand held me close protectively, anchoring me to him and giving me the sense of security and encouragement that I so desperately needed after the series of horrors that I just experienced. I quickly rid myself of all distractions and focused on keeping Roland in my sights. Zades was right. I cannot afford to be distracted.

It's just us now and we have to stop Roland here, one way or another. The entirety of Hoenn is at stake.

Failure is not an option.

---

Character and pokemon list:

Velda Vera, Age: 14, Female, Pokemon Trainer

Pokemon on hand:

1) Rapidash (Flamel), male

2) Swampert (Bigblue), male

3) Banette (Dolly), female

4) Flygon (Snap), male

5) Absol (Kelsa), female

6) Charizard (Toothless), male

7) Cradily (Lily), female

8) Espeon (Rena), female

9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male

10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male

11) Clefable (Joy), female

12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female

13) Pangoro (Hulk), male

14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless

15) Scizor (Archer), male

16) Lapras (Chill), female

17) Gengar (Wacky), male